In Psalm 30:5, David wrote, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” This is the testimony of those who call out to God in their distress, and give their burdens to Him. Psalm 30 exemplifies the blessedness of answered prayer, as does the testimony of Diane Bringgold below. David had been in great distress, and nearly overwhelmed by his enemies. He extols God for having lifted him up, preserving him from the cruelty of his adversaries, healing him and giving him new life:
Psalm 30 (NKJV)
1 I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up,
And have not let my foes rejoice over me.
2 O Lord my God, I cried out to You, and You healed me.
3 O Lord, You brought my soul up from the grave;
You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
God brings David from weeping to joy, and into great prosperity; but then David begins to trust in what he has received, instead of wholly on the Lord:
4 Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His,
And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
5 For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life;
Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning.
6 Now in my prosperity I said, “I shall never be moved.”
When the Lord hid his face from him, he was greatly distressed:
7 Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong;
You hid Your face, and I was troubled.
He feels his loss, and makes earnest prayer and supplication:
8 I cried out to You, O Lord;
And to the Lord I made supplication:
9 “What profit is there in my blood,
When I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise You?
Will it declare Your truth?
10 Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me;
Lord, be my helper!”
The Lord then restores him to favor, and fills him with joy:
11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,
Finally he purposes to glory in God alone, and to trust in him forever:
12 To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.
Diane Bringgold in her book, Life Instead, (Word Books, Waco Texas, 1979), wrote that Psalm 30 “truly tells what the Lord has done in my life”.
December 1, 1975, was the end of a wonderful life. As wonderful as that life was, I wish I had yielded my life to the Lord before our plane crashed into Black Butte. My old life would have been even richer.
December 1, 1975, was the beginning of a new life – a wonderful and exciting life in the Lord.
I claim Psalm 30 as my special Scripture. It truly tells what the Lord has done in my life. (ibid, p. 127)
Knowing that her husband and children had died in the crash, she had cried out, “I can’t go on without them. Please Lord God, just let me die. But this was not to be. Instead Diane heard a gentle yet firm voice say
“I will not let you die”. Looking up she was not able to make out His face, but Christ’s physical presence was unmistakable and His words were audible and life changing: “It is not up to you to decide whether to live or die. That decision is mine alone to make,” she heard Christ say, “but I will help you go on from here. I will take your pain and give you life instead.”
In a 1990 article, “Growing Through Grief”, Diane Bringgold Brown describes how God was with her through her grief, and helped her to go forward with new life in Him. (Journal: Priscilla Papers, Volume: PP 04:1 (Winter 1990), http://www.galaxie.com/article/pp04-1-05 )
My first husband, Bruce Bringgold, and my three children, Scott age 11, Mary age 8, and Laura age 5, were killed in a private plane crash in which I was seriously burned on December 1, 1975. Of the six types of loss mentioned earlier, I experienced all except material loss. When I got out of our burning plane the afternoon of the accident, knowing my family was dead and that I was burned, my first decision was to die so I could be with them. Through a vision God reminded me that we are not to choose death as long as life is ours. Knowing I could not cope with the grief, loneliness or physical pain, I simply told God that if He wanted me to live, I would give Him everything, and He would have to cope with the grief, loneliness and pain because I could not. I received the gift of faith, the ability to know that somehow with God beside me everything would be all right. Nothing changed in my external situation but everything changed.
I was enabled to accept the death of my husband and children because of the hope of life we have in Jesus Christ. I know that for a Christian death is not the end but a new beginning. It is the door through which each of us must walk to enter eternal life with Christ, the final healing for those who have accepted Him as Savior and Lord.
I was aware that my grief was not for my family but rather for myself. Being able to rejoice in the new life they are experiencing in heaven has enabled me to release them and to go forward into new life.
We too can learn that weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. We can draw water from the wells of salvation, and drink deeply of the living water that Jesus (Yeshua) gives. He promises that it will become in us a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.
Isaiah 12 (NKJV)
2 Behold, God is my salvation,
I will trust and not be afraid;
‘For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song;
He also has become my salvation.’”
3 Therefore with joy you will draw water
From the wells of salvation.John 4
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
David Krause, dhkrause@neteze.com, https://compellinglove.net/, 9/13/2015
Compelling Love 
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